


Could we start again, please?

by riverwrenwrites



Series: TUA Creator's Bingo [9]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, Post-Season/Series 02, Season/Series 02 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27030394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riverwrenwrites/pseuds/riverwrenwrites
Summary: TUA Creator's Bingo EntryPrompt Filled: FuneralAfter the most hectic three months of his life, Diego finally gets a chance to speak to Eudora again, even if it wasn't the way he wanted.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, past Diego Hargreeves/Eudora Patch - Relationship
Series: TUA Creator's Bingo [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715587
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	Could we start again, please?

It had been eight days now since Diego had found the envelope addressed to him sitting on the mat by the front door. It was unusual for three reasons. One: He hadn’t received any mail in over twelve years. Two: He hadn’t been registered at his childhood home in over twelve years. And three: He didn’t recognise the handwriting on the envelope. Every day since then, he’d woken up, read over the card inside, and put off his decision for another day. Today, though, he couldn’t do that, because now he’d run out of days. 

He read over the gold, embossed words for the hundredth time.

_ Detective Eudora Patch _

_ Dec 1983 - Mar 2019 _

_ Funeral Service _

_ Apr 15 - 10AM _

He wasn’t going to the funeral service.  _ That  _ at least he was sure about. For starters, people would want to know how his hair had grown five inches in two weeks, and even with the charges dropped, he was pretty sure there was a good number of people who still thought he was the one who killed her. No, the real question was whether he would go to the burial. 

Two days ago he’d decided he absolutely, categorically, wasn’t going. Yesterday he decided he  _ definitely _ was. Today… he wasn’t sure anymore. Part of him felt like he was probably the  _ last  _ person she’d want to be there, another part felt like he owed it to her. He wasn’t there for her when she needed him, so the  _ least  _ he could do was be there now. Still, there were so many other complications if he did go. What would he do when he got there? Should he bring flowers, or was that tacky? What flowers would he even bring? She always had sunflowers in her kitchen… but she also liked bluebells… and daffodils… Okay now he was  _ definitely  _ overthinking the flower thing. 

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he tossed the card aside and got to his feet. 

He wasn’t going. 

He rifled through his closet for a shirt. 

Maybe just for five minutes. Just to pay his respects. 

He’d slept in his jeans last night.  _ Christ _ , he needed to get his life together. 

No. Nope. Not going. 

He tugged his boots on, threw open the door, and headed down the stairs. 

Just a quick walk-by, no big deal. 

About ten paces down the street he started having second? Third? Twenty eighth thoughts? But he pushed them out of his mind, trying to find something else to focus on instead. It was cold out despite the sunshine, and he was starting to regret not throwing a jacket on before he left. This was always Eudora’s favourite time of year. When the sun was out and the flowers were growing, but it was still cool enough to wear a sweater. Actually, she seemed to love every time of year. She had a way of romanticising everything; of finding beauty in the mundane. She made him appreciate things he’d never thought worthy of appreciating before. That, at least, would stay with him, even now that the rest of her was gone. He could still notice the way the frost on the grass caught the sunlight and sparkled like diamonds, and smile at a squirrel bouncing across the road and into the bushes. Just little things that he’d never thought he was capable of before he met her. 

He reached the cemetery a lot sooner than he’d hoped, and he lingered by the gates for a few minutes psyching himself up before finally heading inside. It was a huge place, with trodden pathways weaving in and out of the headstones. He wandered aimlessly until he spotted a small huddle of people gathering further down the path. His latest plan had been a quick walk-by, but he found himself getting closer, leaning against a nearby tree that was close enough for him to see what was going on, but far enough away to avoid being spotted. 

It looked like he’d already missed the coffin being lowered, which he was silently relieved about. Seeing her coffin would have made it too real. He could pick out Chuck, and a few other guys from the station in the crowd, Eudora’s mom, who he’d met once and made just about the worst impression possible on, and her sister, who looked like a ghost of Eudora, only with glasses and shorter hair. There was an older man who must have been her grandfather, and a couple standing with her mom who he assumed were the aunt and uncle she’d told him about once. She talked a lot about her family and how close knit they all were, pretty much the polar opposite of his own family at the time, and a few times he’d found himself wondering what it would be like to be part of that. But that possibility was buried in the ground with her, and he was pretty sure the rest of her family would have some choice words for him if they saw him here. 

He had no idea how much time had passed when the crowd finally started to disperse, but his fingers were starting to go numb from the cold and his arm was aching from leaning against the tree. One by one the group made their way back down the pathway, filing into waiting cars at the gates, leaving him alone with thousands of headstones and one mound of earth. He should be leaving too, but her headstone looked so lonely without her family there, and now that he was here it seemed rude to leave without at least walking past. So, after checking, and then double checking, that there was nobody else around, he headed over. 

“Hey, Dor,” He said quietly as he approached, sitting on the damp grass by the stone and taking a deep breath. 

The headstone looked expensive, made of jet black polished granite. He wasn’t sure it’s what she would have picked out for herself, given the choice, but then there were still a lot of things he didn’t know about her. 

“I don’t know if you’ve uh… been hanging around these last few weeks, but it’s been pretty crazy.” 

Suddenly he wished he’d taken a little more interest in Klaus’ powers when they were younger. He knew ghosts  _ existed _ , but he didn’t know much about how they actually worked. Were there rules? Could they only stay in certain places? Even if she  _ was  _ a ghost and she  _ could  _ go where she wanted, why would she give a shit about what he’d been doing anyway? 

“I grew my hair out.” That was a stupid thing to say. “Saved the world a couple of times.” He sighed, slumping against the stone and hanging his head. “Things have gotten so messed up since you left. You’d think I was making it up if I told you.” 

She wouldn’t. He knew she wouldn’t. Somehow, no matter how insane his situation was, she always believed him. Maybe that was why he often found himself telling her things he never thought he’d ever tell anyone. 

“Okay, so, those freaks in the masks? Turns out they work for some super-secret time travelling organisation that monitors  _ everything  _ to try and preserve the timeline. And Five worked for them too. And Vanya? My sister with no powers? She  _ does  _ have powers, and she accidentally blew up the moon, so we had to time travel to fix everything but instead we got stuck in the sixties, and I got stuck in an asylum and uh… met this girl, Lila. We had a sort of…  _ thing _ going on, but then it turned out she was working for The Commission too… and also had powers like us. And uh… so basically Vanya almost started a nuclear war, and we stopped it, and now we’re back here.” He paused, chewing on his lip for a moment. “Oh, and we accidentally screwed up the timeline so bad we created an alternate universe. But we fixed that too so… everything’s fine now, I guess.” 

Maybe it was just his imagination, but it didn’t feel as cold sitting with her. The logical part of his brain knew it was probably just the headstones blocking some of the wind, but it was nice to imagine that maybe she was listening, probably rolling her eyes at how ridiculous his life was and lecturing him about what she would have done differently. She’d always had a hidden competitive streak. If he stopped two apocalypses, she’d have to stop three. And she could. She would have stopped ten doomsdays by now if he’d been the one to die instead of her, and then maybe everyone would have been better off. 

He should have brought some flowers.

“I really miss you,” He admitted, lowering his voice even though there was nobody else around. “I forgot, for a little while. The last three months have been so crazy I barely had time to think about it. But now I’m back here and… and I don’t know what to do anymore. I thought about going back to the whole vigilante thing, but I don’t think the other guys will be as forgiving about me messing up their crime scenes. And bugging you at work was always half the fun anyway.” 

There was a lot more he could say, but he could feel the emotions starting to bubble up so he kept quiet. He ran his fingers over the grass and took in the flowers people had laid over her grave. There were roses, carnations, and a bouquet of bright pink lilies. She once told him she could never have lilies in the house because of her allergies, and his fingers itched to move them away from her, despite knowing how stupid that would be. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching in the grass, and he quickly started looking for the quickest exit route. The panic faded again as the footsteps grew closer. He recognised the clumsy pattern of steps, so light that it was as though the feet were barely making contact with the ground, and the faint smell of cigarettes. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked before Klaus had a chance to announce himself. 

“Speed dating,” Klaus sat flatly, dropping unceremoniously to the ground with a heavy thud as he sat next to him. “I found the invite in your room. Thought you might need some company.”

“I don’t,” He mumbled. 

“I thought you might say that too.” Klaus leant back on his hands and looked over at him. “But I’m here anyway, so suck it up, tough guy.” 

Diego let out a frustrated huff, though secretly he was thankful for the distraction. 

“What were you doing in my room?”

“I wanted to borrow a couple of your shirts.” 

“You mean steal them?” 

“Tomato tom _ a _ to.” Klaus shrugged. “Old habits die hard, I guess. And anyway, if you don’t want people to steal your shirts, maybe you should stop buying nice shirts.” 

He grinned at him and Diego tried to force a smile back, but it can’t have been too successful because Klaus’ face immediately softened again. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You know that, right?” 

Diego looked up at him. “I never said it was.”

“No, but I know how your brain works,” Klaus said, waving his hand as he spoke. “You hero types think every tragedy is your personal responsibility, but sometimes bad things just happen. And I didn’t know your friend very well but, speaking from a  _ wealth  _ of experience, I know most dead people don’t want their loved ones to wallow in regret for the rest of their lives.” 

Somehow, that made him feel a little better, or maybe it was just the sheer ridiculousness of what Klaus was saying that made him smile. Either way, it eased some of the guilt, and he found himself trying to talk himself out of the question he desperately wanted to ask. 

“Have you…” He paused, chewing on his lip. “I mean, I don’t know, can you…”

“I haven’t seen her,” Klaus said, putting him out of his misery. 

He felt a strange mixture of disappointment and relief at that, nodding slowly. “That’s good, right? That means she’s not stuck down here?” 

“Either that or she’s avoiding me.” 

“That’d be understandable.” 

Klaus grinned. “There! You sound like you again,” He said, punching his shoulder lightly. “Wanna go get dangerously drunk?”

“It’s noon.”

“And?”

Shaking his head, Diego got to his feet. “I need to get some flowers,” He said, rolling his eyes at Klaus’ desperate, puppy dog expression. “And I’m gonna need your help, because I have no idea what I’m doing.”

He didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Eudora with Klaus enthusiastically tugging on his arm, but he didn’t think she’d mind. She always used to tell him he should try to reconnect with his family, and this was probably the first time he’d ever actually listened to her advice. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last bingo fic! [party popper noise]


End file.
